Country folks always have a vegetable garden, and the faithful wife is supposed to can, freeze, dry and whatever else to all that food so the family can “live offa the land.” When I’m doing all that stuff the words to “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” go through my head over and over. […]

Country folks always have a vegetable garden, and the faithful wife is supposed to can, freeze, dry and whatever else to all that food so the family can “live offa’ the land.” When I’m doing all that stuff the words to “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” go through my head over and over. […]

The final curtain has come down on the school year, and students are well into their summer activities. Meantime, Clovis Municipal Schools Operations folks have moved into high gear, and it is their moment — pun intended — to shine. Across the district at our school sites and other buildings, things are happening. Gene Bieker, […]

By Grant McGee: Freedom columnist When folks come in to the bicycle shop I get to talking to them about other stuff besides bicycles. I might ask if they grew up here on the High Plains. If they didn’t, I might ask where they’re from. It’s all part of being conversational but it also takes […]

Some 400 firefighters and dozens of other public safety folks from eastern New Mexico and west Texas stepped up to battle Sunday’s massive wind-driven fire that burned at least 17,000 acres of grasslands and three homes across Curry and Roosevelt counties. About 80 percent of those firefighters were volunteers — sales clerks, cowboys, railroad workers, […]

Some folks were protesting in front of one of our High Plains courthouses some days ago. I like seeing folks protest. It means that something has moved them so much they have gotten off their duffs from in front of the TV, made some signs and taken their complaint out where everyone can see. I […]

Grant McGee Christmas means many things to many folks. For Christians its the birth of Christ. For Pagans it means the rebirth of the Sun. And for folks who like presents and things it’s a great time to get stuff from Santa Claus. This Christmas Day I’m thinking about great December 25ths I have known. […]

Karl Terry With Thanksgiv-ing on the horizon there are two things that stand between most folks and culinary perfection — finding the turkey baster and getting an accurate reading from your meat thermometer. Ahh, those kitchen gadgets. They’ve been making them for centuries and advertising them on late night television infomercials for decades. Even if […]

Grant McGee: Local columnist I was chatting with some folks the other day when one of our area’s unique food specialties came up: The Peanut Butter Milkshake. Well, I think it’s unique anyway. Have you heard of a peanut butter milkshake anywhere else in these United States? Well maybe you have, but with all the […]

By Grant McGee: CNJ columnist I overheard some folks talking the other day, calling one of our area churches a “cult.” Did you know we have a cult around here? I didn’t. But I think I may have visited one in Arizona. During my trucking days I saw an ad in a Phoenix paper showing […]

By Karl Terry: CNJ columnist Where the heck is that burrito lady anyway? Not at all unlike a den of drug addicts without a fix, the withdrawal symptoms are becoming problematic around the office where I work. Folks aren’t hooked on illicit substances though, just hot burritos, which we normally get delivered to our driveway […]

By Glenda Price: Columnist It rained the day I wrote this column. I saw it, stood in it, tasted it. It was good. Ranch folks, especially those of us who grew up in the drought years of the 1950s, have permanent cricks in our necks from looking up at the sky watching for rainclouds. We’ve […]

Some city people talk about country folks as if they “fell off a turnip truck.” I hate to admit it, but I’m thinking maybe they have a point — in certain situations. When I was 12, my 15-year old city-raised cousin, Leela, spent the summer with my family. She was totally grown up — and […]

By Clyde Davis: CNJ columnist This column finds its genesis in one which was recently written by Mr. Leonard Pitts, whose syndicated work appears in this newspaper. Mr. Pitts, an African American male, is around my age and writes from the slightly, but not overly, conservative side of the spectrum. Though I frequently find myself […]

PNT Photo: Clarence Plank Shane Nichols, assistant manager at Russell’s Super Save in Portales, points to one of many different medicine items that shoplifters steal from stores. By Clarence Plank: PNT Staff Writer The recession may have shoplifting on the rise nationally, but this holiday season Clovis and Portales appear to be bucking the trend. […]

By Curtis K. Shelburne: Religion columnist Perhaps there really are some folks in this world who are almost completely unacquainted with self-doubt. I’m thinking of three possible types of folks. The first are “successful” jerks: Donald Trump types seriously in need of the humility and mercy that comes only through the blessing of some real […]

By Karl Terry, Local Columnist It amazes me what folks who homesteaded this part of the country were willing to endure just to get title to 160 acres of sand and rattlesnakes. For a long time now I’ve intended to read the book “Six Miles to the Windmill” by J.G. Greaves, former editor of the […]

CNJ staff photo: Tony Bullocks Lavonn Guthals of Clovis prunes her rose bushes Thursday afternoon in her backyard. Guthals said that gardening is a hobby she has enjoyed for years. By Helena Rodriguez: Freedom New Mexico Local gardeners recommend folks wait until after April 15 to start their spring planting. However, it’s not too early […]